Ironies
by purplehairedwonder
Summary: Fate has a cruel sense of humor and her whipping boy is one Zero Kiryuu. After all, Zero's life was filled with nothing but cruel ironies. Slight ZeroYuuki


**Author's Note:** This is my first foray into the Vampire Knight realm, so I hope this turns out alright. It's less of a story and more introspection into Zero's character. There are spoilers through the current manga chapter (41). Comments and criticisms welcome!

**Disclaimer:** Vampire Knight is not mine.

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Ironies

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Fate had a cruel sense of humor. She entertained herself by abusing her favorite punching bag, one Zero Kiryuu, whenever she got the chance. So it seemed, anyway. After all, ever since the day he was born, Zero's life was filled with nothing but cruel ironies. He tried to fight back, but it was inevitably in vain, as his situation was too much fun for Fate's twisted idea of fun.

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His parents were two prominent vampire hunters, renowned for their skill in the hunting community. The children of vampire hunters would train and inevitably succeed their parents as the next generation of hunters. It was how the Association had existed since its conception and it had no intention of changing; the system worked, so there was no need to change it.

Twins, however, were extremely rare in vampire hunting families. The twins would fight each other in the womb, with the winning child taking on the strength of their vanquished sibling. The instinct of a hunter's child was not something to be discounted. But somehow, both Zero and his brother Ichiru survived, though Ichiru was born with a weaker constitution than his brother. The unprecedented phenomenon of surviving hunter twins did not go unnoticed by either the Association or the vampire Council of Elders. Such exceptional occurrences were to always be noted, especially when occurring among such a renowned family.

So, from the day he was born, Zero was always watched, whether by other hunters or the hunted. He was the product of a birth of which the like had not been seen in centuries, and there was nothing he could do about it. He was watched by those who would train him and by those who would try to kill him; and the two were not mutually exclusive.

Zero and Ichiru, as hunter twins, should have hated each other. Ichiru was weaker than his brother, so should resent his elder brother for taking part of his strength in the womb and thus dooming him as a hunter before birth. Zero was stronger than his brother, so should disdain his younger brother for existing at all, and taking away the resources that should be devoted to his training and growth. But, somehow, the siblings were close as children. Zero was protective of Ichiru, and Ichiru was dependent on Zero.

Their relationship spit in the face of the status quo. Many thought the Kiryuu twins would change the world. Perhaps they were right; but for the wrong reasons.

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Years later, it was, ironically, an order from the Association that led to the deaths of Zero's parents and his own damned fate. The very group the hunters served ordered the liquidation of Shizuka Hiou's lover, though he had not fallen to Level E yet. For the Association to send a hunter after a Level D was unprecedented, but the hunters fulfilled their duties nonetheless.

It was this action that was the impetus for Shizuka's revenge. She tore apart the Kiryuu family the night she avenged her lover; she killed Zero's parents, stole his brother, and took Zero's future captive. It was an order from the Association that led to the deaths of two of their best hunters and the transformation of one of their future hunters to one that would inevitably be hunted.

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Later it would be the girl without a past that slowly helped Zero move toward an uncertain future. Ever the fighter, Zero fought the onslaught of vampiric instincts that threatened to take hold of him for four years; another unprecedented feat. And Yuuki was the one that made it possible for him to keep fighting. She gave him something worth fighting for after he lost it all. After losing everything of his former life, Yuuki became his everything in a new life.

Yuuki was the one person he would never hurt. She helped him pick himself up over the course of four years, and he came to realize that he loved her for it. After losing everyone he held dear, he didn't think it possible for him to feel love ever again. But there she was, standing side-by-side with him day after day. And for a long time, he was too blind to notice it.

The bitter irony was that Yuuki was the one person he would never hurt, but she was the first person he bit after the vampiric instincts became too much for him to fight. And he continued to hurt her, as she allowed him to drink her blood whenever his bloodlust became too much.

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Zero distrusted vampires from a young age; it was inevitable for the child of hunters to feel so. But after Shizuka's attack on his family, the distrust turned into pure hatred. He hated the creatures of the night that took everything from him. And yet, it was his cruel fate to become one himself. Fate was probably laughing the night he was too weak to fight any longer and gave in.

He hated himself for what he had become. He hated that he now needed blood the way humans needed food and water; the same blood that had coated Shizuka after she murdered his parents. He hated that he had been too weak to prevent it happening in the first place. He hated that he was too weak to keep fighting it any longer. He hated that the scent of Yuuki's blood sent every fiber of his being into an uproar. And he hated that he tainted her innocence because he couldn't turn down the blood she offered.

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The Hunter's Association made it a practice to hunt down those that shared Zero's fate. And they had indirectly been the cause of his parents' death and his own suffering. Yet, they still wanted to use him before he became a target himself. They used his parents as a means to get to Shizuka, and they would use him as long as he was useful. He would be sent to hunt down Level Es—those whose fate Zero would inevitably share.

The delicious irony was undoubtedly not lost on the Association, but they didn't care. The ends justified the means, and Zero was merely a means to whatever end the Association strove for.

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When Shizuka came to Cross Academy, she brought Ichiru with her. A son of the proud Kiryuu family stood at the side of a pureblood vampire; one that had destroyed his entire family. And he didn't blink an eye at his brother's suffering at her hands.

As children, the hunter and vampire communities thought there must be something special about the Kiryuu twins that allowed them to be so close. Hunter twins should not be close. They thought they were witnessing something that would change everything. It had been a lie. Ichiru's love for Zero had been a façade to cover the jealousy and bitterness that he was supposed to harbor. It was ironic, Zero thought, that so many were so willing to easily believe something that should have been impossible. The relationship of the twins had been a lie upon a lie and no one realized it until it was too late.

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Since Shizuka's attack on his family, Zero harbored the desire to avenge his family while dying in the process. He did not want to live to fall to Level E. It was not pretty. He did not want to completely lose control of everything that made him Zero. And he did not want Yuuki to see him like that. And so, he tried to push her away. He did not want her to become emotionally invested in his fate so that once he fulfilled his revenge, he could die.

But, ironically, it was the one he tried to push away that ended up so close that he was unable to follow through when the time arrived. He could see that his attempts to push her away only brought them closer, so they were emotionally invested in each other. And so, his dying would hurt her. But Yuuki was the one person he would never hurt. So he would keep living.

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It was also, ironically, Shizuka that could have saved him; her blood could save the one she damned. By drinking his maker's blood, Zero could become a normal vampire, never to fall to Level E. But it was Ichiru who drank Shizuka's blood before she died. The brother that betrayed him damned him to almost certainly falling to Level E. And Ichiru didn't care.

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But it would later be another pureblood that would willingly offer his blood to Zero. Kaname Kuran was the one vampire that Zero wanted to kill the most outside of Shizuka. He had a mysterious obsession with Yuuki that didn't go entirely unwelcomed by her. And that bothered Zero, though he often told himself he shouldn't care. And he was the one to murder Shizuka before Zero could take his revenge.

Kaname Kuran was the one vampire Zero wanted to kill the most outside of Shizuka, but he was the one that Zero could not touch. Not only did Yuuki care for him (and he would never hurt Yuuki), he was a pureblood. For any vampire, whether one in or outside of vampire society, to spill the blood of a pureblood was akin to a death sentence. Though Zero held no regard for the inner workings of vampire society, he knew he would not survive were he to kill Kaname.

Kaname was the one vampire that Zero hated the most but could not touch. But he was also the one that offered Zero a way to save himself, despite his own obvious dislike for Zero. He offered his blood to Zero, knowing that allowing a Level D to spill his blood was a taboo. And Zero accepted the offer, also knowing that taking a pureblood's blood was a taboo. But Zero would be able to stave off Level E indefinitely with the blood of a Kuran running through him. And it would make him more powerful; more powerful to hunt vampires.

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Zero hated vampires, and yet was one himself. But as if to add insult to injury, Fate threw him a curveball; Yuuki herself was a vampire, her memories sealed away at a young age. She was not just a vampire, but a pureblood. She was Yuuki Kuran, Kaname's sister and fiancé.

The one person he would not and could not ever hurt was something that he hated. He could not hurt her because he loved her. He could not hurt her because she was a pureblood. He could not hurt Kaname because he was her brother. He could not hurt Kaname because she loved him. And he could not hurt Kaname because he was a pureblood.

But Zero was also a hunter. With the impending threat of Level E in the past, Zero had no choice but to continue working for the Association. His usefulness would continue. Yuuki was, therefore, his enemy, as hunter and vampire.

The one person he loved, he could not be with.

The one person he would not hurt betrayed him.

The one person he wanted to protect would fight him.

The one person he wanted to always stay with chose the one person he hated above all. And he couldn't do anything about it.

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Ichiru hated Zero from a young age. Ichiru betrayed Zero and enjoyed watching him suffer at Shizuka's hands. But it was when Zero was locked up that he offered himself to Zero. By drinking Ichiru's blood, Zero would take the strength of his twin, as he was supposed to from the beginning. Combined with the pure blood running through him, he would surpass the strength of other vampires and hunters. The hunter twin phenomenon would continue as it was supposed to.

So, it was, ironically, the one that helped destroy his life that would help him gain the strength to rebuild it and protect others. The one who hated him offered his life as a final act of brotherly "love." The one who wanted him to suffer offered him a way to end the suffering. The one who was jealous of his strength offered him more.

The ill-fated brothers would become one, as hunter twins inevitably did, through an act of vampirism.

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As the new-found power rushed through Zero from taking Ichiru's life, he knew that his life would be forever changed from now on. And he knew that his life had been indefinitely extended.

The irony was that without Yuuki and the hope she gave him, he no longer wanted to live.

His life was one big cosmic joke, but Zero wasn't laughing.

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End


End file.
